NSW1-6's Customs (10/19/2018 - Recent Updates and C3X Week Five)

Hello, this is narutostarwars123456from the Frets On Fire Forums. For a while now I have been aware of C3's use of my work and finally convinced myself to join and contribute directly. This thread will be probably the only place I will post new charts, and I may contribute to other projects on the forum.

For your convenience, I have drastically shortened my former username for this forum, feel free to refer to me by my new one.

Additional Notes: Another classic and BOC's first single. Always played at their live events. Since the organ doesn't come in until the end, this has Rhythm on Keys for the chorus sections. This was done entirely from scratch starting with my very badly done 2012 Drum Project submission, and finalized in early 2016 (again, poorly). I did not use the GHIII version as a guide, so my version is charted differently.

Additional Notes: Probably one of my top tracks from the album (though I like the whole thing), following close to the album's Enlightenment-era themes of war and revolution. Centered around a church-sounding Hammond, this semi-dreamy war march gives the feeling of fighting spirit and resistance towards the powers that be, since the world and civilization have cycled through the ages. Note that is the third (and FINAL) time I've released this song in any form (last two on FoF forums) and hence my most revisited chart so far.

Additional Notes: A heavy synth-laden song, this is another "fantastical story" in reverence to their older pieces, like Epping Forest and Hogweed. It tells a story of a mouse's night adventures from different points of view, only played live during the 1977 tour.

Additional Notes: Deep In The Motherlode describes the United States gold rush of the mid-1800s and emulates the journey westward, including the famous phrase "Go West, young man". It was a limited release single and used to open their concerts in 1980.

Preview Notes: Sofa was originally the second portion of the Sofa Suite, or Divan; a prelude to Billy The Mountain introduced in November 1971. A mockup of German creation operas, it was only played for a few short shows leading up to the Montreux fire.

Additional Notes: GLORIOUS GERMAN VOCALS ABOUND. Aided with Zappa's commentary during these shows, the Sofa Suite was in essence a mockup of German creation operas, the likes of Wagner and Handel, only properly imagined in the studio version. The few versions of the story usually involved a maroon sofa floating the void of space, nothing else but itself, God appearing and calling upon some flooring unto the sofa, summoning his short girl and Squat the Magic Pig, God filming the short girl and Squat performing lewd acts as part of a home video, and God sending the tape off for editing. Lastly, God proceeds to take a nap on the Sofa, and the story of Billy The Mountain begins.

Additional Notes: A leftover track from my unreleased contributions to the FoF Forum's Drum Project 7, patched and full-band. This is one of my personal favorites off of Killers because of the chord sequencing and smooth feel.

Additional Notes: A full-band upgrade to a chart I did for FoF Forum's Drum Project 6. This was my first time ever charting Harmonies in Reaper! As most subject matters on Piece Of Mind came from literary works, Sun And Steel originated from an essay about the legendary ronin, Miyamoto Musashi, who wrote the Book of Five Rings and developed the Niten Ichi-ryuu sword-style.

Additional Notes: A leftover track from my unreleased contributions to the FoF Forum's Drum Project 7, patched and full-band. This is my first release featuring ProKeys (though not first time charting them), and first time doing multiple harmonies! At this point in the Seventh Son concept, our protagonist has foreseen the local village is meeting disaster. No one believes him, but the village is sure enough destroyed. As our prophet laments, the villagers blame him for the catastrophe.

Additional Notes: Another leftover from my unreleased contributions to FoF Drum Project 7. Popular live staple of the group. Some of you may not know, but may notice here for the first time, that this song actually has a fake fade-out. It fades out, but the ending is still tacked on.

Preview Notes: Even though it was not released as a single, The Wall has been frequently played at Kansas concerts, sometimes alone or in a medley. It metaphorically discusses overcoming difficulties in life, a sort-of continuation of Carry On Wayward Son.

Additional Notes: Played at concert I went to during the 40th Anniversary Tour, Summer 2013. Also released as part of a medley with Mysteries And Mayhem and Lamplight Symphony on Two For The Show.

I understand that most of this forum works with Rock Band customs, but please understand that most of my work is prepared for FoFiX/PhaseShift. I'm beginning to learn to use Reaper, but I am still comfortable and skilled with using Edits on Fire, which automatically creates the midis for Rock Band separately. Base work will be done in EoF first, then sent through Reaper for finalizing. Anything I'm too lazy to finish will be converted to RB3 by others.

Regarding Audio Sourcing and Quality:

In the past, I have had complaints about audio quality, and knowing that this being a more professional forum, there are higher standards to quality.

Please understand that nearly half of my music collection is taken from used vinyl records, all of which come from by-gone eras, and includes a lot of the music I intend to chart. Every vinyl I possess has been cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and digitally transferred using Audacity with click and noise removal applied. The degree of success on this depends on the quality of the medium (i.e. the amount of scratching, roughness and skipping). Thankfully a good portion of this music has come from my parents' collection, who took really good care of their records.

Hence, most of my records are free of terrible quality, though I have had cases of really bad copies (Journey's Infinity, Traffic's Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys), cases of copies that could be better (Jethro Tull's Aqualung, Yes' Going For The One and Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway), and cases where I need to redo the digital conversion (Vangelis' Albedo 0.39 and a few others). The only other issue here is the effect on the tempo, which can be due to the mastering on the record itself.

If I have determined (or asked by others) that the vinyl source is bad enough, then I will try to find another source for the audio, or anyone here on the forum is free to help provide it. To give warning and compensate for any of these issues sourcing information for each song / pack released will be included, and any additional modifications made.

Regarding File Quality:

My charting abilities have evolved over the years, ranging from not fretting enough (long ago), to about 2012-2013 when I was over-charting. It was only since mid-2015 that I really started to hone on what was being played. This is directly related to training my ears, but believe me, I have noticed that the biggest culprit here can be the mixing quality.

My methods of tempo-mapping have changed as well, again only recently starting to really ensure that it is done properly. I was able to chart fast and properly for a while, but I found that it really depends on how tight the musicians stick to the tempo. Sometimes charts were worked over a period of time, and some packs may include songs where I did not go back and fix the tempo maps to be as pristine (i.e. the Kansas pack, see notes for other songs in WIP Thread).